Improving Bracers of Armor

[Tyrant]

The Arms and Equipment Guide mentions that Bracers of Armor can be enchanted. The language is a little unclear to me. It says the armor bonus can't exceed 8, but the effective bonus can go to 13. So does this mean I can take +8 Bracers and add a +5 Enhancement to them to get a +13 total to AC, meaning that the +8 limitation is to the base item and does not include enhancement? Or does it mean that the total + to AC can't ever exceed +8, no matter what combination of base ability and enhancements got it there, and the +13 limit is to account for other enchantments that have a + value?

[BearonVonMu]

"The armor bonus can't exceed 8, but the effective bonus can go to 13" means that the maximum AC the item can give is +8, which is solidly in the epic range, with room for +5 worth of other enchantments, such as fortification.

[MesiDoomstalker]

"The armor bonus can't exceed 8, but the effective bonus can go to 13" means that the maximum AC the item can give is +8, which is solidly in the epic range, with room for +5 worth of other enchantments, such as fortification.

The +8 Bracers of Armor are not epic, they are only 64,000 (though it is ridiculously expensive for what it is). The price calculation is the bonus squared, times 1,000, so a maxed out Bracers would be 169,000 gp.

[tomandtish]

The Arms and Equipment Guide mentions that Bracers of Armor can be enchanted. The language is a little unclear to me. It says the armor bonus can't exceed 8, but the effective bonus can go to 13. So does this mean I can take +8 Bracers and add a +5 Enhancement to them to get a +13 total to AC, meaning that the +8 limitation is to the base item and does not include enhancement? Or does it mean that the total + to AC can't ever exceed +8, no matter what combination of base ability and enhancements got it there, and the +13 limit is to account for other enchantments that have a + value?

The second.

[Tyrant]

Thanks for the clarification.